Shipping Board to Seattle/the Gorge area

lbird320 · Joined: 02 Jul 2014 Posts: 6

Good Day All,

I'm trying to ship a board from Santa Cruz to Seattle/the Gorge area for a reasonable amount. The packaged board is just a bit to big for UPS or FedEx ground.

FedEx Freight or any trucking company wants well over $250 dollars for this 34 pound package.

Jet cargo (port to port) is very reasonable in $ 60 to $75 dollar range, but you need to be a Known Shipper with the airline for a $100 dollar fee. The Freight Forwarders I've contacted want much more than the the air fare for their service.

Any suggestions?

Thanks All.

isobars · Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935

SEARCH with BOTH shipping and board as keywords. You'll find many informative threads on it. [I tried it, but got 360 threads, many irrelevant.]
???

Um ... the first three were yours ... in three forum segments. That produces a confusing mess of overlapping threads.

drblanke · Joined: 02 Aug 2006 Posts: 65

Amtrak? I used them a long time ago to ship a board cross country but not sure if they still do it. Probably Oakland to Portland on the Starlight.

biffmalibu · Joined: 30 May 2008 Posts: 556

Amtrak will indeed ship a board cross-country (east/west) up to 10' long. HOWEVER, I am not certain they will ship a board along the coast (north/south); the reason is due to the west coast surf industry potentially overwhelming (and abusing) Amtrak with surfboard shipments and consequent insurance claims along the coast.

*If you try Amtrak north/south along the coast, perhaps state that you want to ship some long "SPORTING GOODS" (if they want more details, make something up like "foam slip 'n slide" or "large tent") gear in a box. Do NOT use the words "surf" or "surfboard" or "windsurf". Do NOT insure the gear (otherwise, Amtrak will want to open the box and inspect. And you will then be busted for trying to sneak a board along the coast.). Per Amtrak, Amtrak has been BURNED (yes! true!) by the surf industry with frivolous and even fraudulent insurance claims on new boards. As always, a few can ruin things for the many.

*If you don't want to insure your board, they will never know what is in the box.

Amtrak seems to not be capable of earning any money ever, and they don't want to deal with even more costs. I have had great service and experience with Amtrak shipping large items (boards) west to east. Get a surfboard box and maybe wrap your board with bubble wrap. Cut a couple simple hand holds in it (one on each side of the box) and Amtrak will be happier.